


Small Mercies

by alliedtowinter



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: But That's Not the Major Character Death, I swear I actually ship it, M/M, POV Hubert von Vestra, Silver Snow Route, The Horse Dies, oops :-)!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:01:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21515713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alliedtowinter/pseuds/alliedtowinter
Summary: “Hello, Ferdinand,” he says flatly, “I didn’t expect to see you here.”“There is no need to sound so droll!” Ferdinand exclaims. His cheer is boundless but it’s obvious it doesn’t reach his eyes if one knows how to look. The lance in his hand glimmers like a star as his fingers tighten around it.
Relationships: Ferdinand von Aegir/Hubert von Vestra
Comments: 9
Kudos: 38





	Small Mercies

**Author's Note:**

> I accidentally triggered silver snow instead of crimson flower because I forgot to talk to Edelgard, I meant to S Support her too but then couldn't so I decided Ferdie was the next best option
> 
> And then I accidentally got attached!!!
> 
> Ferdibert has all my UWUs

Ferdinand looks like one of the heroes from the storybooks Hubert always hated, though he can’t bring himself to hate this one, and he is beautiful in the same way gods and monsters are. His pristine white horse (Hubert remembers its name: Avane), balks to a stop with a slight pull on its reins. The two are in perfect sync down to the rhythm they breathe. An infernal sun burns through Ferdinand’s hair and sets a halo around him as he blots out the light streaming behind. Hubert is not a sentimental man, but the thought of putting a Miasma through his ribs makes him sick. “Hello, Ferdinand,” he says flatly, “I didn’t expect to see you here.” None of Hubert’s men are anywhere near. They’d learned not to follow him when he slunk off to perform shady tasks. He curses his own sadistic nature; how could he let Von Aegir catch him alone? He is above stupid mistakes such as that. Regardless, he will take care of this himself. Enbarr’s streets are thick with the stench of blood. 

“There is no need to sound so droll!” Ferdinand exclaims. His cheer is boundless but it’s obvious it doesn’t reach his eyes if one knows how to look. The lance in his hand glimmers like a star as his fingers tighten around it. Edelgard had given it to him for his eighteenth birthday: an ornate, custom-designed, piece that doesn’t sacrifice function for form, just like its wielder. It’s clean. The fighting started over an hour ago. Had Ferdinand spent all that time searching for him?  _ What an honor. _ Hubert half expects to feel the ice of a Tempest Lance in his breastplate any second now. Ferdinand had never been any good at magic unless it involved stabbing something.  _ Combat Arts are more practical than tomes, anyway, which is why I am not a mage,  _ echoes in the corners of his memory, the annoyingly cheerful voice of a five year old shade scarred deep in Hubert’s brain.  _ How will you take me down without a book in your hands? Being able to recognize one’s weaknesses is quite becoming.  _

One of Hubert’s stood right in front of him. Hubert’s throat closes. “Listen well. I only extend you this courtesy because replacing the Duke Aegir again is more work that Lady Edelgard doesn’t need. As much as I loathe to admit it, you are important to the Empire. Lay down your weapon and surrender.” It wasn’t an act of insubordination to take an enemy alive in order to interrogate them, right? Any way he could, he avoids stating the obvious reason why. 

Ferdinand’s eternal smile only spreads wider as it frays and grows pained at the edges. He sees right through Hubert like always, though, to be fair, it isn’t very hard. “That is interesting,” he says. His voice is high and cold. Avane beneath him. “Where was your mercy for Caspar? Linhardt?  _ Dorothea? _ Did you not… care about them too?”

He dodges the question. It isn’t subtle. “Make your choice.”

“I would rather die then bend at the knee for you.” Ferdinand lifts his chin in defiance.  _ Defeat me, if you can.  _ It’s like staring into an inferno as the fire boiling off of it in waves scalds his face and eyes. If Hubert’s eyes get glassy, it’s because the heat dries him out, and if the other couldn’t see the error of his ways, then he was a liability. An Adrestian general as a dog of the church? Pitiful. He’d put him out of his misery quickly, at least, same as the others. “You follow her lead without caring how many more you trample. When will you say enough is enough? Why do you continue on with blind loyalty?”

“I wouldn’t expect you to know loyalty, traitor to the Empire.”

“Traitor?” he echoes, and his impenetrable smile, brighter than a million candles, flickers and goes out. In its wake is a flaming resolve. There is cruel beauty etched into his brow as he glares down at Hubert, passing judgement. “You have replaced one god with another, going on the warpath for Seiros in the name of Edelgard.”

How dare he speak her name with such venom? The tome at Hubert’s side flares to life. Malice pours from between its covers. “Tell Dorothea Hubie said hello.” She’d never been his equal at spell casting. Few people were. In a duel, she hadn’t stood a Blizzard’s chance in hell, and neither would he. 

  
The Paladin’s eyes widen. Ferdinand doesn’t even have time to scream before Dark Spikes slam into his horse, and when the shadows dispel, there isn’t even a body left. In spite of everything, he hopes it was painless, the last mercy he will grant anyone. Hubert picks up the shining silver lance that clatters to the ground and continues to fight. There’s something grotesquely fitting about making his way back into the fray with the weapon of the man he  loved just killed that appeals to the wound up monster in his stomach The last imprints of Ferdinand’s body heat where he’d gripped the metal fade into Hubert’s cold, cold, flesh. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment or I will have to die 
> 
> [and come say hi on twitter!!!](https://twitter.com/alliedtowinter)
> 
> [ tumblr too. ](https://alliedtowinter.tumblr.com/)
> 
> it's all bruabbaposting and ferdibert posting


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